The Costa Rican legislation dealing with food and agricultural imports has not undergone significant change over the last 15 years. However, the process of consolidation of a Central American Customs Union has resulted in changes in some regulations such as the harmonization of registration and nutritional labeling requirements throughout the region as well as new microbiological criteria for food products. Additional regional regulations are expected to be harmonized in the near term as the Central American countries are expected to reach agreements on several regulations including food product registration and additives.
Several government institutions use different procedures to control food and agricultural imports into Costa Rica.
According to a decree issued by the government of Costa Rica, from December 1, 1989, all imported food products must have labels in Spanish. Despite this language requirement, other languages may be used as well, as long as the required information is also included in Spanish. The information below must appear on the product label in Spanish, except when indicated otherwise by a national standard or by the Codex Alimentarius. Stick-on labels are allowed.
